Overprotective gamer

Ok so a little back story, I am a volunteer for the youth in my area. I love seeing people be accepted for who they are and we can offer young people a safe place for them on a friday night instead of getting into trouble. Every year we do a camp and as the game wiz of our little community I offered to bring games. Now because I couldn't guarantee their safety, I decided to buy some new games and give them to the youth instead of putting mine at risk. As it turns out, my worries were well founded as many of the games were mistreaded and some even went missing.

This all got me thinking about the unique way I see my games, you see I love people coming over and playing games, heck I'm even happy to leave them to it while I go do something else. However, if asked to borrow my games, I am very hesitant to say yes. Now for me, the boxes that they come in don't have to remain pristine, sure a game box looks nice but because I travel with my games it is often unrealistic to expect them to all stay in near mint condition. It's the inside of the box that causes me heart palpitations.

"Will the cards get bent?", "Will they loose on of the little pieces?", "Will someone squish the box so it wont fit on the shelf anymore?"

There are some games I can part with, mostly party games like Cards Against Humanity or Codenames. I suppose it all depends on my attachment to the game. You will almost never find me letting someone borrow games like Roll for the Galaxy or Five Tribes.

All these thoughts flood through my head, and it begs the question, Am I an overprotective gamer? For me, my games mean so much to me, not just as entertainment or things, but rather as a method of bringing people together. So yes, maybe I can be a little bit too protective of my "things", but for me its a fair enough worry to have.

What do you think? Are you like me? Let us know in the comment section below!

Brent

Brent is the founder of OzBoardGamer, he has a passion for the hobby and especially loves games for 2 to 5 players